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More US Troops Heading to Afghanistan Frontline in 2018

Tuesday, 26 December, 2017 - 17:30

More U.S. troops are slated to hit the frontlines in Afghanistan next year, General John Nicholson, commander of the U.S. forces based in the Central Asian country, has announced.

Nicholson said there are currently "well over 1,000 advisers out at any given time," and confirmed that this number "will increase dramatically" under a new military plan developed by the U.S. government.

"Those teams," he said, referring to Afghan military forces, "will be backed up by U.S. combat enablers, not only for the protection of our own force, but for support of Afghans as well."

Nicholson went on to praise the new war strategy, calling it a "game changer" and noting that its implementation has already started to prodice results, PressTV reports.

The new strategy will also involve deployment of the U.S. Army's 1st Security Force Asssistance Brigade (SFAB) next year.

Colonel Joseph Scrocca, a spokesman for the XVIII Airborne Corps, said: "Any deployment to Afghanistan is inherently dangerous and our soldiers, in particular those of the SFAB, are well-trained and prepared to handle themselves in a variety of operational environments."

A significant jump in the number of aerial bombings of what are believed to be militant targets across the country is also being incorporated into the new plan.

Sixteen years on, the war in Afghanistan is the currently the longest conflict in U.S. history. It has cost taxpayers US$1.07 trillion so far, according to The Balance.

Despite his campaign promises to bring the U.S. to heel – it has been at war 222 out of 239 years since independence in 1776, according to Global Research – Trump now plans to tack billions more onto the defense tab by boosting troops.

The United Nations estimates that the number of Afghan civilians killed during a six-month period this year reached an eight-year record high.

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), has said that she plans to pursue a formal investigation into war crimes committed in Afghanistan.